Ava DuVernay’s origin: A powerful film on racism and caste in America

Contributed Origin is a 2023 biographical drama film written and directed by Ava DuVernay. It is based on the book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson, which describes racism in the United States as an aspect of a caste system. The film stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Wilkerson, alongside Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nick Offerman and Blair Underwood. Origin was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it premiered on Sept. 6, 2023, and began its theatrical release on Jan. 19. It received positive reviews from critics. Writer Isabel Wilkerson, grappling with tremendous personal tragedy (still living in the American South, she lost her mother, who died in 2016, and her husband, who passed away unexpectedly a year earlier after a period of illness.), sets herself on a path of global investigation and discovery as she writes “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” Wilkerson is consulted for her opinion after the shooting of Trayvon Martin. She explores the idea of how race may not be the only determining factor in bigotry, since, e.g., in India, everyone may be of the same “race,” but bigotry still occurs...